Thanks for checking out my home on the web.

I’ve been posting here in fits and starts, and rather more regularly on Twitter, (which is possibly from where you have just come) since the nfp 2.0 blog (which was good while it lasted).

The Potted Me

I help some of the UK’s biggest charities unlearn stuff and trust more of their own people to build relationships online that support collaboration, transparency, advocacy & philanthropy.

I am an experienced online community builder and mentor, and encourage organisations to release authentic voices in their organisations, particularly through storytelling.

I’m an award-winning blogger and a contributor to several reports on online fundraising.

Twenty years ago I organised a successful Blue Peter Appeal and currently advise a number of start-ups in the charity sector.

I’m invited to speak at conferences and to small groups, such as charity CEOs, charity marketing managers and digital engagement teams (e.g. British Heart Foundation, The National Trust and Action Aid).

I feel privileged to work with great people at some fantastic organisations.

For the past eight years, I have also ‘managed’ a thriving “benchmark” online community for the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).

In short, I get up to all sorts of stuff I feel passionate about.

Some recent presentations

If you fancy reading more…

In 2006, I was the first non-Mexican recipient of the Colibri Ecotourism Achievement Award, which is presented to “a leading catalyst working towards ecotourism in Mexico”.

In 2003, I received the awfully prestigious Lente de Plata (‘Silver Lens’) award from the President of Mexico for my writing.

I created two respected Mexico-related blogs:

• After Wilma, a blog that challenged the broadcast model of communicating a destination to tourists in a crisis (makes for a great case study!)

• Mexicanwave, (Ten Best Travel Blogs, The Guardian), which was for many years the independent online resource most often cited in guidebooks to Mexico. Much of the old content remains (these things are persistent), although the design has been stripped away.

What else? Well, I think I’m a half-decent amateur photographer. It gets me outdoors. I own only an old Sony Cypershot compact digital camera, and an iPhone, but I’m pleased with the results. My Mexico x 100 series of photographs has received some acclaim outside of my immediate family and been viewed more than 17,000 times. You can also find me on Instagrid.

I won’t bore you with the details, but here’s a list of some of the things I am now…

• A Builder of Bridges (I make connections)
• Partner, Visceral Business.
• Digital Communities Manager, CIPD
• Member, Selection Panel, Innovation in Giving Fund
• Member, NCVO ICT Foresight e-panel
• Advisor to some charity start-ups

or have been…

• School Governor
• Community Manager at Sift
• Business Development Manager, travel portal (which dot-bombed)
• Charities Development Manager, Justgiving
• Director, Web Consultancy… with Nigel Dunn
• Deputy Campaigns Manager, Oxfam UK
• Operations Manager, Blue Peter Appeal
• Academic Advisor, Macmillan Education
• Primary school teacher, Mexico (I swear, never again…)
• Observer, Federal Elections, Mexico
• Welfare Officer, Student Union Executive (when I had more hair on my chin than I now have on my head)

I moved out of London in 2002, back to the West Country where I grew up. I now live in a particularly green part of North Somerset with my young half-English, half-Mexican family. and our dog. Not too far from Bristol though.

You can get hold of me by email: mexicanwave [at] gmail [dot] com